Feel the Music
by a lame penname
Summary: Non-mafia university/music school AU. Gokudera wasn't expecting a possible solution to his non-existent love life when he began working on this project, but he's not about to complain. Rated for swearing.


**Please read:** I am by no means a musician or a music student so there _will_ be mistakes and inaccuracies throughout. However, all of the mentioned pieces are real, so do check them out! This fic was heavily based off research, so I hope it's at least partly realistic. If you are knowledgeable on this topic and find some questionable information, please feel free to yell at me!

All characters and musical pieces mentioned belong to their rightful owners.

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Author's Note: Dedicated to my friend. Happy Birthday, N!

Please enjoy!

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Gokudera wanted to curse the instructor to the winds. He considered digging out his old occult magazine collection that he'd gotten too busy to read to get some pointers on how to place a curse on someone.

 _Find a partner_ , the instructor had said. For their final project for this term, they were expected to get another student to play a classical piece with them, and they would be graded accordingly on how well they did, to see how much their handling of their respective instruments have improved and how well they can work with other musicians. _How very practical,_ Gokudera thought dryly. He was pretty sure the professor was just too lazy to come up with anything else.

It wasn't like it was a particularly difficult task, in all honesty, and it wasn't that hard to find someone willing to pair up with pianists. After all, many needed accompanists. And it also wasn't like there was an odd number of students in the class that one might have to resort to dragging someone else or having to pair up with a TA to do it.

The problem lied in the fact that Gokudera Hayato had no friends.

Okay, so maybe having no friends was pushing it― he had his childhood friend Hibari Kyoya who he didn't really even talk to, but he definitely didn't have friends in this particular class, and the instructor had specifically said to partner up with someone from the class.

They still had months to find a partner and work on a piece until it was perfect for presentation, but...

 _Shit, shit, shit._

It didn't have to take a genius like Gokudera to guess that it would be overly awkward for him to try to speak to someone after a whole year made up of glaring at anyone who tried to talk to him. He had better things to do then, and he didn't think he'd need a social life. Whoever had time for social life in college anyway?

Apparently, he does need one. He regrets all his decisions now.

He could only hope that there was some other kid in class that also had no friends that would be willing to partner up with him.

He would have to wait this out for a while. If he finds someone, he hopes they're good at what they do or else they'll both fail. Gokudera really wants to become a musician.

X

It was probably maternal instincts when Lavina noticed her son's sour mood the moment he stepped in the house.

"Hayato dear," Lavina turned off the faucet and wiped her hands on the apron before going to greet him. "What's wrong? Why the long face?"

Gokudera slipped off his shoes and went into the kitchen to get some ice cream from the fridge. "Nothing," he said glumly, ripping off the lid and spooning some ice cream into his mouth. "Our finals project has already been decided."

Lavina blinked. "Oh." She doesn't ask anything more and he's glad for it. He doesn't want to think about it yet. Not right now.

"I'm going up to my room to do some homework," Gokudera announced. He took the ice cream up with him before Lavina could scold him for it.

There was a keyboard in his room even though an actual piano existed in the living room. He used it sometimes when he didn't want other people to hear him play or if it was too late to go down to use the piano instead.

He changed into more comfortable clothes before turning the keyboard on. Playing the piano had always been soothing to him. Listening to others play was nice, but it was an entirely different experience making the music happen himself.

He spent around twenty minutes trying not to think about murdering his instructor as he played before he finally pulled out some worksheets to do.

Gokudera had already completely forgotten about the project by the time he finished dinner. He was about to enjoy the rest of the night with his laptop on his lap and rediscover his love for all things occult when he received an email from the instructor with details about the project.

 _Shit,_ Gokudera thought again as he began to read it.

They were expected to have a partner by the end of the week so that the instructor could list them down. Gokudera wasn't sure exactly how many people were in the class, but the professor expected it would take at least three days for everyone to get to present.

Gokudera checked the calendar. It was Monday. He still had a few more days to figure this out.

X

The next three days brought no results to Gokudera who'd been hoping and hoping for someone to magically show up and ask to be his partner. Were his skills really so bad that no one would think to ask him?

Whenever he attended The Class, as he'd started to call it, he'd glare at the instructor every second his back was turned to the students. Gokudera was convinced that this was all a big conspiratorial plan to make him fail.

Nevertheless, he stayed in the music rooms to practice after his classes. If he couldn't find anyone to be his partner, even if he were just to be an accompanist, then he'd rather spend his time improving rather than sulking. Maybe he could perform solo. He might still get half credit for it.

Some others already had partners the exact day the project was announced, and Gokudera couldn't help it, but he really wanted to curse them too, or maybe throttle them, because if they didn't have partners by the end of the week, then maybe it would be more acceptable to delay the deadline for getting one. Gokudera did not want to have to be paired up with some weird kid by the hands of his professor.

Gokudera was thankful that they got to pick their project partners because a lot of other professors would pick their partners for them and most times those worked out terribly. It was especially terrible when they didn't do any work when the professor wanted to see results from both people. Gokudera had never had a lover though, so he couldn't say how true the saying that college taught people that choosing project partners was more important than choosing the right life partner was.

It was already Friday. Gokudera headed to one of the music rooms to practice as per usual. For the past three days, he'd occupied room number five. There was no rule stating that only one person should be in the music room at any given time― not that it would be a sensible rule if it were made into one― but students generally avoided any occupied rooms so that they could practice without distractions outside of the room lectures were usually held.

Today was no different. Except for the fact that when he stopped to take a five-minute break, some kid walked in with a violin case in one hand.

The boy froze when he realized there was someone in the room. His eyes went comically wide and he began to bow. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't know there was someone in here. I'm sorry for interrupting, I'll be out of your way now, I'm―"

In the middle of the boy's apology, Gokudera realized that this boy was a violinist that he'd seen on campus before.

Gokudera squinted at him. "Are you in Professor Sugiyama's class?" he asked.

The boy blinked his large brown eyes slowly. "I, uh, yeah. I am."

Gokudera dared himself to hope. It would be this guy or nothing. He wondered if this guy was any good. "Do you have a project partner yet?"

Understanding dawned in the boy's eyes. He knew where this was going. "Not yet," he said. He smiled slowly, lips pulling up and lighting up his pale face. "Would you like to be my partner?"

Gokudera pretended to think about it for a moment. "Are you any good?" he asked.

The boy laughed in amusement, his head of fluffy brown hair ruffled by the breeze coming in through the window. "I don't know, how do I know _you're_ any good?"

Gokudera gaped at him. _The nerve of this guy_ ―! No one's talked back to him for as long as he could remember because everyone flagged him as a delinquent once they got a good look at his silver hair and his automatically glaring face. "I'll show your smart-talking ass how skilled I am and make you regret ever even _thinking_ about questioning how good I am at the piano, punk!"

He marched over to instrument and plopped himself down on the bench, cracking his knuckles.

The boy stood there and laughed at him as he tried to play In Dahomey without sheet music. He hit the wrong keys several times but he ignored it and played on until the piece was finished. He'd been attempting to play it since he was in sixth grade, but he hadn't always just been practicing that one piece. His rehearsals for recitals had taken away a lot of the time he would have put into that piece.

The boy looked oddly overjoyed when he finished. "That was really good. Isn't Cakewalk Smasher a difficult piece?"

Gokudera huffed. "I've proven my worth. What about you, huh? I hope you aren't some incompetent prick trying to waste my time."

Laughing mirthfully, the boy pulled his violin out of the case, taking care to check if it was in tune first before placing it under his chin and playing.

It took a few seconds, but Gokudera recognized it as La Ronde des Lutins without the piano accompaniment. The boy barely made any mistakes. He didn't really play it as fast as the original, but it was a difficult enough piece to begin with. Gokudera had to begrudgingly admit that the guy knew what he was doing. The boy finished the piece with a dramatic bow.

"So," said the boy. "Is that good enough for your standards?"

Gokudera tried to look unimpressed. "I'd still have no choice but to partner up with you even if it wasn't." The boy laughed again.

"Thanks then, I guess." He placed the violin back into its case and shut the lid firmly and extended his hand. "I'm Sawada Tsunayoshi."

"Gokudera Hayato." Tsuna let his hand drop when Gokudera didn't take it.

"So, uh, how often do you want to meet? I mean, we still need to decide on a piece that we both can work with first, then practice is―"

"Once a week is fine for now," Gokudera packed up his sheet music and fished for a scrap piece of paper in his backpack. "We can just text or email for deciding on the piece, then we'll talk about practicing after we've decided on one." He scribbled down his contact info quickly and handed the paper over to the boy. "I need to go, I have a class in five minutes so just shoot me a message whenever." With that, he fled the music room, leaving one confused Sawada Tsunayoshi behind.

X

 _This is Sawada Tsunayoshi._

 _Bring an umbrella ouo it's supposed to rain tomorrow._

The next day, he registered his and Tsuna's name in the instructor's list before hurrying home before it started to rain. The clouds were looking decidedly ominous. The entire way out, he could only think about the text he'd received the previous night. Even though Tsuna had warned him, he'd forgone bringing an umbrella anyway because he'd always been stubborn like that.

When he was finally outside, he could hear a voice calling his name and he turned around to look for it.

"Gokudera-kun!" the boy waved wildly at him and ran over quickly. "Great, I caught you," he said, trying to catch his breath. Gokudera frowned at him.

"Is there something you need, Sawada?"

"Ah, I was thinking maybe we could get started thinking about which piece to play for the project?"

"Oh," Gokudera said flatly. "No thanks, I need to get back home before it starts raining."

"You don't have an umbrella?"

"Obviously not?" Gokudera quickened his pace a little, hoping Tsuna's short legs wouldn't be able to keep up with him and he would eventually give up. Unfortunately for him, Tsuna matched his pace well, taking three steps at a time while Gokudera took two.

"But I texted you last night to tell you that it was going to rain. Didn't you receive it?"

"Well you didn't say anything about having plans to work on the project today, so there."

"We can go to my house to work on it," he offered. "If it's still raining by the time we're done, I can lend you an umbrella." He looked at the pianist hopefully, and maybe it might have affected Gokudera a little, but he wanted to get home dry.

Thunder rumbled lightly, and Gokudera shook his head. "Not today, Sawada. I still have homework to do."

Tsuna pouted. "You're not the only one with homework, you know. I'm no expert, but I know how difficult it is for non-professionals to agree on a piece that is suited to their levels of skill. I have 3 papers due on Tuesday for Music Theory and 1 for Harmonic Studies but I'm still trying to get something done with this one. Honestly, if you aren't going to be able to commit, then maybe you should just find a different partner."

The violinist looked so genuinely upset that Gokudera felt a bit like a jerk for not even trying to get started working on the project even if it was earlier than too early to do so. They must have stood there for a few minutes while Gokudera tried to process Tsuna's words. When he didn't say anything after a long while, Tsuna sighed.

"I'll go talk to Sugiyama-sensei," he said sadly, turning around to walk back to school. He kind of looked like a kicked puppy with his sad, sad eyes and it made Gokudera feel infinitely more terrible.

"Wait, Sawada!" Gokudera blurted when his brain had finally caught up to him. "How far is your house?" he asked. He really would have much preferred to just take on another partner that would bend to _his_ will, but finding this one had already been hell and he didn't want to do it again, he told himself. Really, that was it.

Tsuna blinked at him hesitatingly. "About a fifteen-minute walk."

 _Ok, great, maybe it's close to my house._ "Why didn't you say so, then? Let's go." He walked forward nonchalantly even though he had no idea if this was the way to his partner's house. Lightning crackled across the sky and Gokudera scowled. "You better lend me that umbrella later."

"S-sure?" Tsuna mumbled, still confused. He tugged on Gokudera's sleeve when he began going the wrong way. "My house is this way."

His house was quite close to Gokudera's, except it went down the other end at a split path. The living room in Tsuna's house looked little different from Gokudera's own, except for the lack of a grand piano in the corner of the room and the warm-colored furniture. The boy's room was a different story though, it was quite messy. It would be a miracle if Sawada got anything done in there.

"So," Gokudera said as soon as they'd made themselves comfortable and it's started to rain, "did you have anything in mind yet?"

"Ah, well I was thinking about doing William Bolcom's Graceful Ghost Rag. What do you think?"

"A bit easy and short for university-level students, don't you think? Sugiyama isn't going to say it, but he wants to see difficult pieces. Not just well-executed ones."

"Oh." Tsuna said. "Let's think of other ones then."

They tossed out a few more pieces for being too long, too short, too easy, and too difficult. Nana had already popped into the room to offer snacks a few times.

Gokudera let out a long huffy breath, sprawling out on his back even though he'd met Tsuna literally yesterday. "Is it always this hard for a violinist and an accompanist to agree on something?"

Tsuna looked up at him from his notepad where he'd been listing down the things they'd crossed out. "Maybe it's because we both don't know every piece out there yet." He reached for a cookie on the plate Nana had brought. "But if you think about it, having each other as a partner already makes things much easier. This would be much harder if I were a cellist and you were a trumpeter. Looking for pieces that we both can work with would become that much more difficult."

Gokudera grunted. "That just means Sugiyama is going to be stricter when he grades the performance." His stomach grumbled at him so he sat up. "I need to get home, Sawada. Give me that umbrella."

"Right. Uh, should we meet again tomorrow since it's Sunday?"

Gokudera shook his head. "I'm going out tomorrow. I'm free on Thursday afternoons."

Tsuna blinked. "Me too," he said, standing up. "Free on Thursdays, I mean. So I guess we'll just email if we don't meet then?"

Nana fussed over Gokudera before he could leave, worried that he might get sick from the rain. She offered him a raincoat and an umbrella but he refused the raincoat. She meant well, but hell if he wore a raincoat at this age.

After dinner, Gokudera went off to do homework for his composition class even though that class wasn't until Tuesday. The umbrella he'd borrowed was propped up on the porch, and Gokudera hoped he would remember to return it to the Sawada household if only so that no one could guilt him about not returning the pile of borrowed stuff that had been accumulating on a corner of his closet since elementary school.

X

They ended up not talking to each other at all until Wednesday night, and that was only because Tsuna sent a text saying, _I'll wait for you at the entrance to the lobby of the main building tomorrow,_ and Gokudera had to tell himself he totally hadn't forgotten that they were even supposed to meet at all.

At two o'clock, Gokudera pushed past all the students scrambling to exit the lecture hall, giving them the evil eye if they dared to snap at him. He wasn't eager to be in the presence of another person again, but the sooner they got things done, the sooner he could go home.

As promised, he found his project partner standing outside the entrance with his backpack, looking around like a lost puppy.

"What the hell are you doing, Sawada?" Gokudera asked as soon as he got close enough. The boy's fluffy hair ruffled with the breeze as he turned his head. Gokudera wondered if it ever got too warm under there. "Stop blocking the way."

Tsuna smiled at him brightly, and Gokudera frowned. "Still going to my house today? Or do you want to go somewhere else?"

"Anywhere, as long as it isn't noisy." He glared pointedly at a group of loudly laughing boys. "Also, I forgot your umbrella." Tsuna waved it away.

"It's fine, you can give it to me some other time. Do you want to go get something to eat? I was thinking maybe we could go to the cafe near campus."

Gokudera shrugged. "Yeah, sure, whatever."

Once they sat down with their orders in the quietest corner they could find, Tsuna began to talk but was immediately interrupted by someone yelling "Tsuna!"

The violinist squinted behind Gokudera to look for the source of the voice. He watched silently as a tall dark-haired boy came up behind his partner and lay a hand on his shoulder. Tsuna stiffened, turned around to face the culprit, then relaxed and smiled brightly when he saw who it was.

"It's just you. What are you doing here, Yamamoto?"

The tall boy― Yamamoto, Gokudera supposed― laughed. "The band decided to take a break from practice." He gestured towards the counter. "Sasagawa-senpai and the girls are buying food."

"How was practice?" Tsuna asked. Gokudera kicked him lightly under the table and Tsuna turned to look at him questioningly.

"I haven't got all day," he hissed. Yamamoto seemed blissfully unaware of the exchange. Tsuna ignored him and turned back to Yamamoto.

"Not so well," Yamamoto laughed. "Senpai and Haru kept on arguing about how fast the song should be played. What are _you_ doing here? You usually just head home after class don't you?"

Tsuna motioned to the pianist sitting in front of him. "I came here with Gokudera-kun to work on a project."

Yamamoto blinked blankly at Gokudera when he glared then laughed. "I'll leave you to it then." He waved goodbye to Tsuna to join up with his friends. When Tsuna turned to look at his partner, he found him scowling.

"Don't be so grumpy, Gokudera-kun. It was just a short conversation."

Gokudera scoffed. "Whatever, Sawada. I came here to work on a project, not to watch you flirt."

Tsuna frowned. "I wasn't flirti―"

"Anyway," Gokudera said loudly, "I thought of Dvorak's Sonatina in G Major, Op. 100. Ever heard of it?"

Tsuna was still frowning. "I-I think so… Hold on." He pulled up the song on his phone and listened to it for a little while. "Yes, I've heard of it. Don't you think it's a bit too...soft for your personality?"

"..." Gokudera glared at him. "What's that supposed to mean?" he growled. Tsuna squeaked.

"Nothing? I just… You seem to have a strong personality, that's all."

Gokudera narrowed his eyes. "Are you trying to tell me I'm rude?"

Tsuna's eyes widened and he looked maybe a bit hurt. "So you're allowed to accuse me of flirting with other people and I can't say what my opinion of you is?"

"Saying I'm rude is hardly an opinion. It's an insult!"

"Well you _are_ rude! Has no one ever told you that?" Tsuna glared at him. "You were rude when we first met, and I didn't complain at all. You were also being rude when you tried to skip a responsibility when you refused to start working on this and I still didn't complain. I know this isn't the only class we're taking, and we have to do work for others too, but putting it off until the last minute isn't going to make it any easier to do. If we want to present anything worthwhile can you _please_ just stop trying to be a jerk?" Tsuna looked tiny and vulnerable and ready to cry.

Gokudera glared back at him. If it wasn't already too late, he would definitely ask for a partner change this time around. As it was though, he could only suck it up for now until the project ended. "Fine," he said, letting out a long, angry huff of breath. Luckily, their little spat didn't attract much attention because of how quiet Tsuna's voice was. "What do you suggest then?"

"Schubert's Violin Sonatina No.1 in D Major, Op. 137."

"It's going to be hard to get the timing of that right."

"I don't know anything else that will work, okay? None of us can think of any other pieces to work with, and we've already wasted a week. If you're not going to suggest something else that we can do, then we need to start practicing."

Gokudera thought about it for a moment. It was a piece that they both could work with. The only problem, he supposed, would be memorizing it and adjusting their timing to fit each other. "All right," he said. "But how often are we supposed to practice?"

"That depends." Tsuna rubbed at his eyes. "If we can find a way to work around each other then we'll stick to our once-a-week thing. But if we can't, then I guess we'll have to meet more often and look for a way to be more… 'in-tune' with each other."

Gokudera took a sip of his untouched coffee. "Are we starting today or next week?"

Tsuna glanced at the large window on the other side of the room. "Next week," he decided. "It's getting late today. If I get into the zone now, I might refuse to let you go home until we finish the piece."

Gokudera stood up and dusted off his pants. "I'll meet you outside the lobby at the same time next week."

X

Thursday came quicker than expected. Gokudera found himself standing outside the lobby staring at the screen of his phone as he waited for his partner to show up.

He pulled up his messages and clicked on the message from an unknown contact. The message left by Tsuna still made him feel like he was an overzealous puppy. He tapped on the text box at the bottom.

 _Let's just go to the practice rooms instead,_ he typed, _since there's already a piano there. Just bring your violin._

He headed off in the direction of the other building without waiting for a reply. It was dark outside, and he'd forgotten to bring the stupid umbrella again. Sugiyama-sensei's classes were on Mondays and Wednesdays, and both of those days he had full day classes. He'd be damned to carry an umbrella around the entire day just to see if he would bump into Sawada.

Room 5 was unoccupied as always. Tsuna got there about ten minutes after Gokudera did and they set to work immediately. Three hours later, Tsuna had his violin packed up neatly as they got ready to leave. It had rained for the past hour while they were practicing, but it seemed to have already let up by now.

"So," Tsuna said with anticipation. "What did you think of our work today?"

Gokudera glanced at him. "It was fine, I guess."

"You guess?"

"It's only the first time we're working together. We could use some improvement. We definitely need to work on our timing."

Tsuna bit his lip. "Do you think we should meet more than once a week? I know we still have like more than 2 or 3 months to get this right, but it seems like a good idea?"

He sounded unsure, but Gokudera nodded anyway. He was starting to get too tired to attempt thinking more about it. "I'm always in the practice room when I'm not busy."

"Okay," Tsuna said. He looked tired too. "I'll see you around then, I guess."

X

Things had improved by a lot 2 weeks and 5 practice sessions later, but there was still a noticeable difference in their tempos while they played. The piano was too fast and the violin was too slow.

"Speed up a little, Sawada! We're going to grow old listening to you play."

"No, you slow down a little Gokudera-kun! You need to _feel_ the music. Stop being so rash! Put in your feelings when you play."

"What _'feelings'_ do I have to put into it?! What have you been feeling for the piece to slow this much?"

Tsuna sighed as he tucked his violin away into its case. "It's not getting better at all. What are we going to do?"

Gokudera was tempted to say _I told you so,_ because he had, but it wasn't like there was a different solution he could come up with either, so he didn't. Instead, he said, "I'll… ask my mom. I'm sure she's had these kinds of experiences before." Saying it made him sound _and_ feel weak, but there was no one else around to hear him anyway.

After their sixth practice, Gokudera stopped Tsuna as he began to leave. "She thinks we should… 'hang out.'"

Tsuna looked at him in confusion. "What?"

"My mom said getting to know how each other is in real life could be extremely helpful in letting us adjust to each other's tempos." He looked none too happy to say it, but… "Since there's nothing else we can think of, she said we should give it a try."

Tsuna blinked. "Okay," he said slowly. "Do you want to come over to my house to hang out, then?"

Gokudera ran over his mental checklist for things he needed to do but found nothing urgent. "This idea had better work."

He followed Tsuna to his house again, where they were offered an array of snacks once again as the lay down on their bellies to read Tsuna's extensive manga collection.

"No wonder you play so slowly," Gokudera muttered.

"Huh?"

"Your life is too quiet. You need a little more excitement."

"What kind of excitement?"

"You'll see tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Tsuna tilted his head to the side. "You have full day classes tomorrow, don't you?"

Gokudera shrugged. "I don't have any homework that immediately needs doing. I'll come over after my classes."

"O-okay."

The next day, his classes ended around five. He'd brought some of his video games in his backpack to bring to Tsuna's house to let him experience the thrill of life.

It was getting dark outside already, and he walked quickly past the buildings. When he rounded a dark corner, he noticed a familiar mop of fluffy brown hair. It was Tsuna and a man with dark blue hair tied up into something that vaguely resembled a pineapple.

The man was pressed uncomfortably close against Tsuna, and Tsuna was frowning, squirming to get away. Gokudera frowned and took a step forward to tell the man to back the fuck off, but there was a loud yell of Tsuna's name again.

Yamamoto appeared and slung an arm around Tsuna's neck, forcibly bringing him to his side. He grinned at the man harassing Tsuna. "Who are you?"

The man laughed mirthfully. "My name is Mukuro." He looked between Tsuna and Yamamoto and grinned creepily. "I'll be taking my leave now, then." He turned towards the direction where Gokudera was and Gokudera hurriedly pressed himself against the wall to hide, but continued watching his partner.

"That was dangerous, Tsuna." Yamamoto said, letting him go.

"Thanks, Yamamoto."

"I'd love to walk you home, but I'm kind of running late for a class."

Tsuna waved him away. "It's fine, Yamamoto. Go to class."

Yamamoto laughed and patted his back. "Stay safe, Tsuna!"

Gokudera emerged from his hiding place as Yamamoto jogged away, frowning at his back. "Who is that?"

Tsuna blinked. "Ah, that's Yamamoto Takeshi. He's a bassist. We were in middle school together. I watch his band when they perform sometimes."

They began the walk back to Tsuna's house. "Huh. Well anyway, when I said you needed some excitement in your life, that wasn't what I meant at all."

"You saw that?" Tsuna's face was reddening with embarrassment. It made him look like a recently ripening tomato.

"Doesn't matter. All the excitement you need is in my backpack."

"In your backpack, huh? Guess I'll just have to wait and see then."

X

Hours and hours of video games later found Tsuna and Gokudera sprawled out on the floor laughing.

"So is this the most fun you've had in a while or what?"

Tsuna rolled his eyes at Gokudera. "I see now, why everything in your life is so fast-paced."

"It's nice, isn't it?"

"It is," Tsuna agreed. "We should do this more often."

Gokudera grabbed a book from Tsuna's shelf and snorted. "A rom-com? Really?"

"Hey!" Tsuna yelled indignantly. "It's a good series, okay?"

Gokudera rolled his eyes and placed the book back on the shelf. "Whatever. But… this is nice too."

"We mostly have the piece down now," Tsuna said carefully. "So I guess this means we have more time to work on our friendship, and see if it's going to work."

"Our friendship?"

Tsuna froze. "Yeah?" he said uncertainly. "We _are_ friends, right, Gokudera-kun?"

Gokudera blinked at him slowly. He was reading manga and eating snacks in Tsuna's house, and they'd played at least 3 of his favorite video games on Tsuna's console. Strangers don't do that, maybe. "I guess we are."

Tsuna looked at him silently for a moment. "Okay," he said. "Yamamoto and his band are having rehearsals tomorrow. Do you want to go watch with me?"

Gokudera squinted at him. "Is their music any good?"

"Um," he replied. "I guess Sasagawa-senpai could use more work on making his drums not sound as loud as he is."

"Drums are supposed to be loud."

"Not as loud as the way he plays it. Haru's guitar can barely be heard with a mic, and Kyoko's voice gets drowned out sometimes."

"That bad?" Gokudera smirked. "I'd be an idiot to pass up an opportunity to yell at people."

X

"Oh, who's this?" Yamamoto grinned cheerfully as he opened the door. He turned back to the room to yell, "Tsuna and his friend are here!"

"This is Gokudera Hayato. He's my project partner for Sugiyama-sensei's class."

"Really?" Haru said as she popped out of the kitchen with a glass of juice in her hand. "I heard he's kind of crazy. Good luck with that project of yours."

Watching them rehearse for a show wasn't so bad. Gokudera and Ryohei 'hit it off' immediately, hurling insults at each other whenever possible. Tsuna and Gokudera shared their opinions as the band played.

"I can't believe you're friends with these kinds of people and you still live so quietly."

Tsuna smiled wryly. "Just because my friends are loud doesn't mean I have to be, too."

"You _are_ loud around them though," Gokudera pointed out. He shook his head. "Anyway, I better get home. I have homework to do tonight."

"All right," Tsuna said. "See you around."

X

Their next practice was a lot better. They were still a bit out of tune with each other, but it had gotten significantly better.

"So it does work," Tsuna said as they wrapped up. "Sometimes I play faster and sometimes I play slower, but it sounds so much nicer now."

They hung out frequently after their classes, either at Tsuna's house playing games or at a cafe, sometimes doing homework and sometimes just talking. Those days where they hang out at the cafe just talking, Gokudera thought, probably looked embarrassingly like dates.

Tsuna wasn't bad company though, and he was starting to get talkative and mean around Gokudera too.

"So this is your true nature," Gokudera said with a raised eyebrow.

Tsuna didn't bother looking at him as he focused on sipping at his latte. "What true nature? I'm just me."

Other times, he went with Tsuna to watch Yamamoto and his band too. He didn't know what they were called. Probably something stupid, but that was the least of Gokudera's concerns. The deadline for the project loomed closer with each passing day.

Five days before they were due to present, Gokudera heard mewling from an alley as he and Tsuna walked back home. "Wait," he said, running off in the direction of the sound. Tsuna just looked at him in confusion and followed him.

When he emerged from behind some boxes, he held a tiny kitten in his hands. It meowed pitifully as Gokudera pet its head tenderly with a finger.

"So this is _your_ true nature, Gokudera-kun?" Tsuna teased.

"Shut up," Gokudera growled. "Sorry, but I can't practice today."

"It's fine," Tsuna said, eyeing the kitten curiously. "The piece is close to perfection. Are you bringing the kitten to a shelter or keeping it?"

"I'll probably need to send him to a shelter, but I'm going to feed him something for now."

"Okay," Tsuna said. "See you tomorrow for practice, then."

They practiced the piece like crazy for the next few days until it was 11 hours from their presentation. Tsuna packed up his things with a satisfied smile.

"Your mom is a genius. Getting to know each other really helped us be able to adjust to each other's tempos."

The piece was perfect now. All that was left would be to present it. The umbrella Gokudera had borrowed still sat in his room at home. "Of course. She was a skilled pianist too, you know."

Tsuna laughed. "I know, you've told me before. Still, this couldn't be possible without her." Tsuna fiddled with the strap of his case. "It's really late already. Let's go home and get some rest for tomorrow?"

"Yeah," Gokudera said. They walked together up to the spot where they had to split up. "Don't be late tomorrow, Sawada."

It had been a while since Gokudera got to have a full eight hours of sleep. He woke up feeling refreshed and slightly anxious for presentation. It wasn't like his entire career depended on this one project even if it felt like it did, but the perfectionist in him would be extremely bothered if he and Tsuna didn't pull this off nicely.

When Gokudera arrived, Tsuna was already sitting outside, waiting with a few others. They were all dressed formally as requested by the instructor. Tsuna kept twirling the end of his tie. Gokudera slapped his hand away.

"Stop that," he said. "Don't give Sugiyama a bad first impression."

Tsuna bit his lip apprehensively as he sat on his hands to keep them still. "But I'm so _nervous_. What if I mess up? Oh god, what if I forget the chords?"

"You're not going to forget," Gokudera said. "Relax a little." He looked around the room. "What number are we?"

"Four, number one just went in."

"Come on," Gokudera stood up and extended his hand to Tsuna who stared at it blankly.

"Come on where?"

Gokudera rolled his eyes. "To help you relax, of course," he said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "It wouldn't do for you to be all nervous while playing, now would it?" He grabbed Tsuna's hand and pulled as Tsuna's other hand latched onto his violin.

Gokudera led them to one of the practice rooms. There were sounds coming from inside, but he didn't bother knocking before entering. "You dragged me here to see Yamamoto's band play?"

"They make terrible music," Gokudera said, pushing Tsuna further into the room to where an untouched keyboard sat.

"Gokudera?" Yamamoto asked questioningly. Gokudera held up a hand.

"No questions. I need him to relax before presentation." He turned to Tsuna. "Bring out your violin. Let's try playing Danse Macabre."

"Why?" Tsuna asked, even as he brought out his violin.

"Warm-up."

On the other side of the room, Ryohei whispered loudly. "Why is Tako-head never this nice to us?"

"Well his grades _are_ dependent on Tsuna-kun." Kyoko said.

Haru rolled her eyes. "No way. I think he just has a crush."

"Quiet!" Gokudera demanded over their playing. Tsuna's previously stiff shoulders had loosened up some already, and he looked mighty amused. When they finished, they headed back to wait for their names to be called.

"Thanks, Gokudera-kun," Tsuna whispered. It would be their turn soon, and…

The door opened. "Gokudera and Sawada?"

"Here," they said simultaneously, standing to enter the room. They'd practiced all they could and improved all they could. Now was the time to show the world what they'd achieved.

"Whenever you're ready," Sugiyama-sensei said. Tsuna glanced back at Gokudera who nodded for confirmation. He took a deep breath and began to play. This was it.

X

"Gokudera-kun?" Tsuna asked, when he spotted the boy standing outside the lobby. "What are you doing here? The project is already finished..?" They'd aced it, too. That was two weeks ago.

Gokudera's face was red. _From the heat,_ he told himself. Gokudera Hayato does not blush. "Your umbrella," he said, handing the item out. "I kept forgetting to return it, and it made me feel guilty because your mother might need it when she goes out. I didn't have any other reason."

Tsuna stared at him curiously as though trying to decide if he was an alien or not. Then, he laughed, cheeks blooming into a rosy color as he accepted the umbrella.

"Gokudera-kun," he said hopefully. "Would you like to come over to my house?"

 _-fin-_


End file.
